One of my favorite easy meals is this super simple chicken pesto pasta salad! It's light, fresh, and comes together in less than 20 minutes! With creamy pesto and mascarpone cheese, grilled chicken, spinach, and tomatoes it's the perfect summer lunch!
In a large bowl mix together the mascarpone cheese and pesto until fully combined. Set aside.
Cook your pasta according to package directions. Make sure you heavily salt the water and cook the pasta for about 1-2 minutes less than the listed time for perfect al dente pasta!
Drain the pasta and immediately add to the bowl of sauce. [Do NOT rinse the pasta, as the starch will help the sauce cling to the noodles and the residual heat from the pasta will melt the mascarpone a bit making the sauce extra creamy.]
Gently toss the pasta in the sauce until all the noodles are fully coated.
Mix in the spinach and stir a few times until it wilts slightly from the heat of the pasta.
Then stir in the diced chicken, bacon, sliced tomatoes, and mozzarella balls.
Serve immediately while warm, or let chill in the fridge and serve cold!
This chicken pesto pasta salad will keep in the fridge for 3 days, but the noodles with soak up the sauce the longer it sits. So after 2-3 days, you might want to add in a little extra pesto!
Notes
*Fresh homemade pesto is best but you can use your favorite fresh store-bought pesto instead (Trader Joe's vegan kale pesto is a great choice for this pasta salad)! I love using either my homemade basil pesto or my fresh spinach pesto!